The Burial of Jesus 

When Joseph and Nicodemus arrived at Golgotha, they saw soldiers lowering Jesus from the cross and Sanhedrin representatives watching to make sure no one stopped his body from being buried in the criminal pits. The Jews shouted for the Master's body when Joseph gave Pilate's order to the centurion. They ravingly tried to take the body, so the centurion ordered four of his soldiers to his side and stood on the Master's body with drawn swords. The centurion ordered the other soldiers to leave the two thieves while they repelled this angry Jewish mob. After restoring order, the centurion read Pilate's permit to the Jews and told Joseph, “This body is yours to do with as you see fit. I and my soldiers will stand by to see that no man interferes.”

On their way to Golgotha, Joseph and Nicodemus decided to lay Jesus in Joseph’s family’s tomb. This was a perfect solution, as the law states that no crucified person could be buried in a Jewish cemetery. This new tomb had recently been hewn out of solid rock, empty, and deemed an appropriate resting place for their Master. Recall that these two men were former Sanhedrin, who now became the most outspoken disciples of Jesus in all of Jerusalem.

Around four-thirty in the afternoon, Joseph, Nicodemus, John Zebedee, and the Roman centurion set out and carried the body wrapped in a linen sheet, followed by faithful women watchers, to Joseph’s tomb, a short distance north of Golgotha. Once in the tomb, the men hurriedly wrapped Jesus’ body with bandages saturated with myrrh and aloes, tied a napkin about his face, enfolded his body in a linen sheet, and reverently placed Jesus on a shelf in the tomb.

The faithful women who went with the group did not believe Jesus had been properly prepared for burial, so they agreed to return to Joseph's home, rest over the Sabbath, prepare spices and ointments, and return on Sunday morning to properly prepare the Master's body for the death rest. Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Clopas, Martha, another sister of Jesus' mother, and Rebecca of Sepphoris were among the women who remained by the tomb on this Friday evening.

The centurion and soldiers rolled the huge round stone that served as the door. The men hurried back to the city. Aside from David Zebedee and Joseph of Arimathea, very few of Jesus’ disciples really believed or understood that he was due to arise from the tomb on the third day.